Ephesians · Chapter 5
Ephesians 5
Berean Standard Bible · Public domain · Source credits
Imitators of God
1Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children,
2and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.*
3But among you, as is proper among the saints, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed.
4Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or crude joking, which are out of character, but rather thanksgiving.
5For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.
7Therefore do not be partakers with them.
Children of Light
8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,
9for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.
10Test and prove what pleases the Lord.
11Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.
13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that is illuminated becomes a light itself.*
14So it is said:“Wake up, O sleeper,rise up from the dead,and Christ will shine on you.”
15Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
16redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord,
20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Wives and Husbands
(Song 1:1–17; 1 Peter 3:1–7)
21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.*
22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior.
24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her
26to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
27and to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless.
28In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
29Indeed, no one ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.
30For we are members of His body.*
31“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”*
32This mystery is profound, but I am speaking about Christ and the church.
33Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Source notes
Old Testament references
References from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Text from the Berean Standard Bible.
Genesis 2:24For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
Leviticus 11:45For I am the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt so that I would be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.
Jeremiah 31:20Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the LORD.
Hosea 1:10Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And it will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’
Genesis 8:21When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.
Leviticus 1:9The entrails and legs must be washed with water, and the priest shall burn all of it on the altar as a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
Leviticus 1:13The entrails and legs must be washed with water, and the priest shall bring all of it and burn it on the altar; it is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
Leviticus 1:17He shall tear it open by its wings, without dividing the bird completely. And the priest is to burn it on the altar atop the burning wood. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
Leviticus 3:16Then the priest is to burn the food on the altar as an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma. All the fat is the LORD’s.
Amos 5:21“I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.
Numbers 25:1While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab,
Deuteronomy 23:17No daughter or son of Israel is to be a shrine prostitute.
Deuteronomy 23:18You must not bring the wages of a prostitute, whether female or male, into the house of the LORD your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the LORD your God.